Singapore women’s hockey team aiming to finish the year with a flourish at SEA Games
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Midfielder Ivy Chan, who had represented Singapore in both hockey and rugby, has played in the SEA Games thrice.
ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR
Follow topic:
- Singapore's women's hockey team aim for a SEA Games medal after winning the AHF Cup and achieving their best Asia Cup result since 1993.
- Coach Henry Wong is developing new players while also relying on veterans like Ivy Chan, who returned to hockey after a stint in rugby.
- The team includes other multi-sport athletes like Hajaratih Johana, who balances floorball and hockey, but is prioritising the latter for the Games.
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SINGAPORE – Having registered back-to-back feats earlier in 2025, the national women’s hockey team are eyeing another achievement at the Dec 9-20 SEA Games in Thailand to end the year on a high.
In Jakarta in April, they won the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) Cup
At the continental tournament in Hangzhou in September, they went on to achieve something that has not been done for over 30 years, placing sixth to equal their highest finish in 1993.
Buoyed by a creditable 2025, Singapore coach Henry Wong is hoping that they can reach the SEA Games final for the first time since 1997, when they won a silver.
He said: “The SEA Games is our fourth tournament of the year and third major tournament. We won the AHF Cup, which was a great experience, even for senior players. We went to the Asia Cup just recently, where we came sixth, which was also a historical event.
“We want to get into the final (of the SEA Games) and then work to close the gap and see if we can compete with Malaysia. We expect to be in the final and that’s going to be a real benchmark for us.”
The only time that Singapore won a SEA Games gold in women’s hockey was back in 1993, when a side spearheaded by star forward Melanie Martens stunned rivals Malaysia in the final on home soil. At the last edition in Cambodia, they settled for a bronze.
To help them achieve their goal, Wong has brought back former player Ivy Chan, who had represented Singapore in rugby for two years, after experiencing three SEA Games hockey campaigns (2013, 2015 and 2017).
“We have an issue here where we had a little bit of a gap in development through the Covid period,” said Wong, a New Zealander.
“We’re really looking at how we’re going to develop our next generation of players and what we wanted to do was put some really good, experienced players around and help guide them a bit. What we wanted to do was create a new core of players and we’ve done that.
“We’ve got two captains (Sardonna Ng and Valerie Sim) who are under 25 years old, and we want to put really good support around them to guide them through that transition over the next 18 months, and Ivy is a great person for that sort of role, really level-headed, really experienced and really good at holding people accountable.”
Chan switched from hockey to rugby after chancing upon the X-Code Challenge – a talent identification programme run by Singapore Rugby Union – in 2018.
She said: “People saw the potential in me, even though I was not super young any more, so I decided to give it a try. I managed to get into the sevens team, which is a bit more competitive, and travelled to the Asia Rugby Seven Series in Bangkok.”
The 29-year-old midfielder is not the only player in the hockey team with a multi-sport background. Forward Hajaratih Johana, who also plays floorball for local league side Wondersticks, is another.
“Our coach, Henry, is pretty open with my commitment, but he made sure that I prioritise hockey over floorball and reminded me not to injure myself,” said the 27-year-old, who had also taken part in the 2017 and 2023 SEA Games hockey competitions.
Asked about her return to hockey, Chan said: “I didn’t think that I would come back to play hockey again until end of last year. Head coach Henry spoke to me and gave me a second life in hockey, which I decided that I should take up.
“At the end of the day, hockey was the first sport that I fell in love with and it will always hold a special place in my heart.
“The difference between the two sports is quite vast, with rugby having so much more contact compared to hockey and it is quite an honour to be able to represent Singapore in one sport already, but for me to be able to represent two, it’s a huge honour.”
Singapore Hockey Federation (SHF) president Mathavan Devadas is hoping that all four of its teams end up on the podium.
“The SHF is delighted to once again have 60 athletes selected for the SEA Games, two field hockey and two indoor hockey teams. We are grateful to SNOC (Singapore National Olympic Council) for its confidence in hockey.
“The players have worked hard over the past 18 months or so and we hope to see all four teams come home with a medal.”
